Sharks home in on Game 6

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 2, 1998

SAN JOSE - Tony Granato watched Thursday night's Game 5 in Dallas from the press box, a spot he's grown a little too familiar with in the last week. After playing in the Western Conference quarterfinal opener on April 22, Granato has been a healthy scratch for four straight games.

"Obviously, it is not a fun situation to be in, to be outside cheering the guys on," the forward said. "It's the role I have to accept. . . . It's hard. I'd probably do a lot more questioning or second-guessing if we hadn't played so well at home."

Granato doesn't know for sure, but it's a good bet his status won't change Saturday when the Sharks host Game 6 at the San Jose Arena, hoping to extend the Stars to a seventh and deciding game in Dallas Monday.

"I know he's ready, and I know, if called upon, we can use him," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said. "It's exactly what I said when we were going down the stretch and sitting guys out. You're not sitting them to punish them or discipline them. You're sitting them because maybe there's three guys ahead of them and you can't use them."

Sutter has decided his four right wings are Owen Nolan, John MacLean, Joe Murphy and Dave Lowry.

On the left side, where Granato has played sparingly in the past, Sutter is going with Jeff Friesen, Stephane Matteau, Murray Craven and Shawn Burr.

"I'm not going to play a guy out of position just to get him in the lineup," Sutter said.

If there's one common thread, those eight forwards are all bigger than the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Granato.

"Obviously, what he (Sutter) sees with his eyes is the only thing that counts," said Granato, 33, a 10-year NHL player. "It doesn't matter what I think or anyone else thinks. . . . I'm not one of the 20 guys he wants on his bench right now."

Despite missing 19 games of the season because of a broken jaw and two more because of a suspension, Granato was second on the team in goals with 16. He had 25 points in 59 games, was a plus-3 and collected 70 minutes in penalties.

In addition, Granato led all San Jose goal-scorers with four in the season series against Dallas. He led the Sharks with two goals against the Stars the previous year as well. And Granato is playoff-tested. He's scored 14 goals and 39 points in 57 postseason appearances, which includes a visit to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993 with Los Angeles.

Granato, however, said he could see the battle to stay in the lineup coming. During the last 10 days of the regular season, Granato was a healthy scratch twice for the first time this season - April 9 at home against Anaheim and April 15 at Calgary. Both were big games down the stretch as San Jose was trying to clinch its first postseason appearance in three years.

"The handwriting was on the wall at the end of the season," Granato said. "Those were the biggest games of the season. I wasn't expecting it then and it happened."

Granato is not the first regular over the last two years to be scratched. Bernie Nicholls, Marcus Ragnarsson and Andrei Zyuzin have all taken their turns in Sutter's doghouse. But all three have responded when reinserted into the lineup.

"All I can do is stay ready," Granato said. "If I get back in there . . . (I have to) play the same way I always have, play hard. If I don't get in there, (then I've got to) get ready this summer and go back at it again next year."

That brings up an interesting point: Granato has one year left on his three-year deal. But he has an option to leave if he wants. He had the same option before this season after returning from brain surgery to win the Masterton Trophy (officially for "perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey" ), but he never considered leaving.

"I'm planning on coming back. I like playing here," Granato said. "That's a decision I have to make this summer. This is where I made a commitment three years ago. This is where I want to play. I'm not planning on going anywhere, but stranger things have happened in hockey. This situation isn't helping anything out." &lt;